Monday, January 16, 2017

Dominic - Learning the Ramp

And now for Dominic. I go through the same process with him. Starting off with the ramp flat on the carpet. Then I add a little height by using the aerobic step to rest it on.

He's never really had the opportunity to use the ramp, so he doesn't have any negative associations with it like Miley seems to have. The only thing he knows is that she is hesitant around it, which I think has given him some confusion as to what he's supposed to do with it. Otherwise he handles it pretty well.

A couple of "fun facts" from these two videos. I actually watched myself this time and realized that I'm wearing the exact same outfit in both videos, even though they were shot on different days. Scandalous, I know! I have a habit of just throwing a hoodie on over whatever I'm wearing when I get home. This video is a perfect case in point. ;)

The other little caveat is that the carpet is not the first location that I tried putting the ramp on. Initially I put it on the kitchen floor. I chose that surface initially for a couple of reasons. One, the ramp has been sitting in the garage and was otherwise used in outdoor locations. So it's not super clean and it has some cobwebs and such on it. It's much simpler to just sweep up anything that comes off as opposed to vacuuming up. And secondly, it allowed for a little more space. I thought the kitchen floor had enough texture to keep the ramp in place, but it didn't. Dominic's first time on it he came excitedly up and pounced his front feet on it and sent it scooting across the kitchen. Which, of course, also unnerved Miley, who was holding a down stay on the carpet behind us. So yeah, I recommend REALLY testing out the soundness of the surface that you're practicing on.

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About Me

My life with big dogs is focused on Miley, my fawn girl born in March of 2014, and Dominic, my black boy born in November of 2015. Our down time is spent running and hiking around beautiful Oregon. I'm also a fan of training my dogs to do random tricks and behaviors as well as working with them on a variety of overall strengthening exercises that involve a wide variety of stability balls and other pieces of equipment. Many of these activities I have videoed and you can see throughout the blog. I have previously competed in agility, rally, obedience, and skijoring with Heffner and Bess. Miley is just getting started in her conformation career and has started training for various performance sports. We're looking forward to a fun and active future! I hope you enjoy the blog and all of our adventures!